Israel said on Saturday it had struck military targets inside Iran in response to earlier Iranian attacks, again raising fears that the long-running confrontation between the two powerful militaries could escalate into an all-out regional war that draws in the United States. <\/p>\n
The Israeli military said it had targeted Iranian missile manufacturing sites and aerial defense systems in what appeared to be a highly calculated response that avoided critical energy infrastructure, such as oil fields and nuclear facilities. <\/p>\n
Iran appeared to downplay the impact of the attack, claiming its air defenses had successfully countered the strikes in three provinces \u2013 Tehran, Ilam and Khuzestan \u2013 and that the damage was \u201climited.\u201d <\/p>\n
The US meanwhile described the attack as \u201can exercise in self-defense\u201d that \u201cspecifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel had vowed Iran would pay for its large-scale missile attack on October 1 that saw around 200 missiles fired at Israel, forcing people across the country to take cover in bomb shelters. For weeks Israeli leaders have been deliberating on the nature and scope of such a response. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we know. <\/p>\n
In the early hours of Saturday local time, Israel launched direct airstrikes against Iran, conducting what it said was \u201cprecise strikes on military targets.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Israeli military said its air force struck \u201cmissile manufacturing facilities\u201d that it said were used to produce the missiles that Iran had fired at Israel over the last year. <\/p>\n
It also said the Israeli military struck \u201csurface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel\u2019s aerial freedom of operation in Iran.\u201d It is unclear if those manufacturing facilities also produced missiles launched by Iranian proxies Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthi rebels in Yemen. <\/p>\n
Iran later confirmed the attack but said the strikes caused only \u201climited damage\u201d in some areas, while images broadcast on state media showed the calmness on the streets of the capital Tehran. <\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s state news agency reported strikes targeting \u201cmilitary centers in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam\u201d had been \u201csuccessfully intercepted.\u201d <\/p>\n
Several explosions were heard west of Tehran around 2:15 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET Friday), according to the state news agency. Iranian officials said blasts heard around the country were related to air defense systems being deployed. <\/p>\n
The initial strikes were closely followed by a second wave, as video posted to social media by Tehran residents showed tracer fire and explosions illuminating the Iranian capital\u2019s sky as dawn neared. A third and final wave then followed. <\/p>\n
By about 6 a.m. local time, the Israeli military said it has concluded its operation, saying the \u201cmission was fulfilled\u201d and Israeli jets \u201chave safely returned home.\u201d <\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s strikes are part of Israel\u2019s long-awaited retaliation to Iran\u2019s missile attack earlier this month, as the ongoing war in the Middle East continues to escalate to dangerous new levels. <\/p>\n
On October 1, Iran launched 200 projectiles towards Tel Aviv and Israeli military bases in what it said was a response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others, its largest ever such attack. <\/p>\n
That missile barrage came about 24 hours after Israel launched a ground war in Lebanon, opening a new front in its war against Iranian-backed militants. <\/p>\n
Israel and Iran have been fighting a shadow war through proxies and covert actions for decades. In April, that war came out into the open when Iran launched a wave of drones and missiles at Israel in an unprecedented attack in response to a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. <\/p>\n
In recent weeks, Israel has ramped up its attacks against Iran\u2019s proxies, including launching strikes targeting the Houthis in Yemen, and militants in Syria. <\/p>\n
But it\u2019s in Lebanon where Israel has refocused its operations after tit-for-tat strikes across the border escalated after Israel eliminated the leadership of Iran-backed Hezbollah in series of assassinations and airstrikes. <\/p>\n
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on his underground headquarters in Beirut in September. Netanyahu had previously said his killing was \u201ca necessary step\u201d toward changing \u201cthe balance of power in the region for years to come.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s war in Lebanon has since killed more than 2,500 people, displaced 1.2 million and created a unprecedented humanitarian crisis, according to Lebanon\u2019s leader and international health officials. <\/p>\n
In a statement issued at the outset of Saturday\u2019s actions, the Israeli military accused Iran and its regional proxies of relentlessly attacking Israel beginning with last year\u2019s 7 October attack by Iran-allied Hamas, during which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and another 250 abducted. <\/p>\n
Following the October 7 attacks, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched military operations in Gaza that have killed more than 42,000 people. <\/p>\n
The UN\u2019s human rights chief warned Friday that \u201cone of the darkest moments\u201d of the war is unfolding in the north of Gaza where the Israeli military is \u201csubjecting an entire population to bombing, siege and starvation.\u201d <\/p>\n
A major concern of increasing military escalations is that Israel and Iran will become entangled in a full-scale war, one that risks drawing the US \u2013 Israel\u2019s closest ally and biggest weapons supplier \u2013 into the fray. <\/p>\n
A senior US administration official said President Biden has \u201cencouraged\u201d Netanyahu last week to \u201cdesign\u201d a retaliatory attack that would \u201cdeter future attacks against Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n
In recent weeks, the US and other allies have urged Netanyahu to exercise restraint and avoid striking Iran\u2019s nuclear and oil assets. <\/p>\n
The White House said the US \u201cwas not a participant in this operation\u201d and urged \u201cIran to cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation.\u201d <\/p>\n
By refraining from attacking Iran\u2019s oil or nuclear sites, Israel has potentially left room for de-escalation. But it is unclear whether Iran will respond to this latest attack. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s top military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said after the conclusion of strikes that if Iran were to begin \u201ca new round of escalation,\u201d Israel will be \u201cobligated to respond.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel said on Saturday it had struck military targets inside Iran in response to earlier Iranian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}